23 April, 2007

Annette has a new Velo Orange randonneuse. The build is pretty modern with Campy 9-speed, Tektro brakes, and Velocity rims. There are lots more photos here. It'll get a rack, Belleri bars, and elk hide bar covers in a few days. We are also waiting for new pedals, but we had to rush to get it ready for her to ride in the "Ride for Shelter" redux. When I asked what she though of it after the ride she said, "God it's wonderful. It feels like it was made for me."

BTW, this is more like what the blue color really looks like. Also, we will be building the first mixte rando frame in a few months.

Downtube shifters continue to be ignored for the heavier, costlier, race-oriented integrated shifters that have long been adopted as the norm these days. I'm sticking with my $35.00, 75 gram downtube shifters with indexing a-n-d friction shifting.

Brian,I had a friend who was in the bicycle business for 35 years. He said the only real improvement he had seen was shifting on the hoods. I guess what is important for some isn't for others. Incidently, I have a bunch of bikes; only one, a tandom, has shifting on the hoods.

Those are extra-long reach Tektro brakes. Regular long-reach would look better. The problem is that with the brakes set so the pads are mid slot there is too much fender gap to look good. We wanted to try the Tektro on a 700c bike, but I think they will only be used on 650b bikes from now on.

I agree with the guy who said it's unusual to see a Brooks saddle shoved all the way forward on the rails. I've NEVER seen a bike with a Brooks saddle pushed forward like that. Was there a measurement problem in the design phase?

Mike Barry of Mariposa fame probably knows more about constructuer bikes than anyone in North America. In an interview he said he liked integrated shifters and has them on his own bike. I have them on exactly 50% of my bikes. There are some advantages to them and some folks do prefer them.

Brian's comment got me thinking a little more about what's right on a traditional frame. We'll never know, but I've always suspected the French constructeurs, who more or less invented the bikes we love, would have embraced some of our modern "advancements". For instance there was a Peter Mooney at the Handbuilt Show that had a reworked Campy rear derailleur with twin cables rather than a return spring. I think somewhere Rene Herse was smiling.